The Death Penalty!

[Anomalocaris]

It would be more humane if the death penalty was carried out as soon as the sentence was passed.(cheaper too)

Yeah, like they do in china, were 150 crimes carried the death penalty, verdict and sentencing is passed at the same time, execution is carried out within 2 hours of the sentenceing by an assault rifle shot to the back of the head, and the family of the executed is billed for the cost of the execution, with a line item on the invoice called "bullet fee", which I understand is 20 cents.

Also in china, often if you are charged with a capital crime you are good as executed. The accused show up at their trial stylishly, as oppose to formally, dressed so as to look presentable when their bodies are handed over to their relatives
before end of the day.

Looking forward to this system, are we?

[Darwinian]

All the time there is even the slightest, and I mean slightest, chance that an innocent person is executed there should be no death penalty! And even then I still don't think it's the mark of a civilised society.

[Paul the Human]

I do not believe death penalty has any genuine additional deterrence effect against the sort of crimes to which they are applied in the western world as judged from the risk calculus of committing the crime.

I don't think the death penalty works as a deterrent, either. I do feel it (as a concept) works as a punishment and as a decidedly effective way to rid society of of dangerous predators. The problem is obviously the chance that an innocent person will be executed. So, while I agree with executing those that commit truly heinous acts (rape, child molestation, murder (with malice and forethought), listening to Nickelback, etc), it is very important to be quite sure that the person is, in fact, guilty... beyond a shadow of a doubt.

With that in mind, I don't mind if it takes several years to actually get around to the execution, but I think there should be a limit. For example, give the condemned and the prosecution five years to either overturn the guilty verdict (prove innocence) or find enough evidence to remove all doubt (prove guilt). If either side fails, the condemned spends the rest of his/her life in prison. Solitary, preferably.

[Skipper]

In principle if there could be ZERO doubt that the accused is guilty then I'd support it. But that's not the case, it very rarely is. If there is even the slightest chance an innocent person could be executed for a crime they didn't commit then it's not a system I'd want in place in my country. It also clearly isn't a deterrent, the U.S. uses the death penalty and they have a very high level of murder and such. Overall as it stands, it's certainly a system I don't want.

[Cerrone]

I agree with Min. besides I am of the opinion that it would be far more annoying to live the rest of your life in jail then to be killed sometime before you would have died naturally.

Yeah that's my point exactly, if somebody committs a crime against you, you don't give a shit whether they're rehabilitated or they have their existence ended if theres no hope of curing them, you just want to make them suffer.

The death penality, like all forms of euthenasia, is humane.

Caging someone up in a box is twisted.

[ib.me.ub]

And even then I still don't think it's the mark of a civilised society.

Please can you explain to me the mark of a civilised society and how to deal with criminals that do not care about laws and civility. You say civilised society, well I would care to think that our society is not civilised and holds many people that are a burden to a peacful way of life. So please explain the method you would use in a civilised society to deal with these criminals, and more importantly how do we get to this civilised society you talk of.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

What do you all think of the death penalty for high level criminals & consistent re-offenders.

I am pro-death penalty - particularly for high level criminals, which I consider to be
mass-murderers, serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, and so on.

I do not believe that people like those listed above should be taken care of for the remainder of their lives.

[Dotard]

Kill 'em all. Let God sort them out.


(sorry, couldn't resist)

[Anomalocaris]

What do you all think of the death penalty for high level criminals & consistent re-offenders.

I am pro-death penalty - particularly for high level criminals, which I consider to be
mass-murderers, serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, and so on.

I do not believe that people like those listed above should be taken care of for the remainder of their lives.

Except the death penalty appeal process is more costly by a factor of 3 then feeding and housing an inmate incarcerated for life in a maximum security facility. We are rightly highly concerned with taking a unjustly condemned life by mistake. The process in place to prevent that, which demonstrably does not work anywhere close to 100% of the time, already cost far more than simply keeping that life living for its natural life expectancy. I find it unacceptable tolerate any increased attrition rate amongst those unjustly condemned to save cost. So I think the logical solution is to incarcerate for life all those who would have been executed. It keeps the criminals off the street for 1/3 the cost, and prevents execution of unjustly condemned.

My fundamental principle is it is acceptable to let 100 deserving criminals escape death penalty in order to prevent one unjustly condemned men from being executed.

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By the way, a pet peeve: Don't confuse a civil society with a civilized society. A civil society is a society conforming to a certain set of standards and are therefore considered genteel, while a civilized society is one which has achieved a certain level of complexity and sophistication in organization, culture, productivity, arts and craft. A society can be highly civilized while completely uncivil, as in societies with sophisticated math, art, organization, and architecture but which practice human sacrafice on a large scale; or completely civil while quite uncivilized, as in a bunch of hunter gatherers who are very nice, polite and rule abiding.

[ib.me.ub]

Also in china, often if you are charged with a capital crime you are good as executed. The accused show up at their trial stylishly, as oppose to formally, dressed so as to look presentable when their bodies are handed over to their relatives
before end of the day.

Looking forward to this system, are we?

Yes actually I am looking forward to a system that has a little less red tape & bureaucracy. Quick, cheap and easy. Perhaps not all the sysytems in China work well, but this one does.